Throughout this series, I have reminded you that for everyone who believes in the name of Jesus Christ as their Savior; having seen Him as worthy of all your praise and seeking Him as your greatest treasure you hold several positions in Christ. Those positions were purchased for you at the cross where Christ took upon himself the full wrath that Justice and Perfect Righteousness demanded for our sin. Those positions are: redeemed (risen), blessed, beloved, chosen, child of the King-heir of royalty, Prisoner of His Love, servant because of overwhelming gratitude, enlightened by His light, New Creation, and Faith filled Saint. I have tried to continually remind you of these so that they become ingrained into your mind, for this is your battle cry when facing the enemy.
Because our work is to bring a dying world to faith in Christ Jesus so they might join the ranks of those who worship and praise the Glorious King of Kings; we are direct targets of Satan who would prefer that all remain blinded to the truth. He wants to shut us up and He wants to destroy every testimony. For that reason, Satan remains very busy about his work. He is the master of disguises and enters in by many forms some of which are religions which confuse and trade away the truth. God has provided us with His armor to protect us through Satan’s attacks. Our Father has given us everything that we need to be more than conquerors. If a soldier goes forth to battle without first applying his protective gear, he certainly increases his own risk of defeat. Within Ephesians 6 is outlined for us the armor needed in this battle. He says that with this armor we will be able to stand (not fall, not grapple)—to stand firm, fearless to the very end. So it is important that we recognize the need to put on our armor daily before we are attacked in battle.
Ephesians 6: 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
So we have 5 defensive pieces of armor and 2 offensive weapons. Let’s begin with our defensive gear.
Defensive Armor #1: Belt of Truth. We are to stand with our loins girt about with truth. The ancient soldiers had their loins (waist) girt about with a leather belt that held the other pieces of their armor in place. So tightly and firmly about our waist we are to wear the truth which will firmly hold in place the remainder of our armor. So what truth are we talking about? The Bible is rich with the truth of God. There is the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, He who bore our sins and opened the floodgates of communion between God and man for all who will receive Him as their Savior. There is the truth of all the promises of God for provision, strength, joy, hope, peace and sustaining grace. There is the magnificent truth that God the Creator of the Universe with all its innumerable galaxies is still intimately involved in every detail of my little life. It is important that we read and study His word so that we might know the truth especially as Satan knows the scripture so well and knows how to twist it. 2 Timothy 2: “15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” We must search prayerfully for God’s truth so that our belt holds strong supporting our central framework—keeping us standing strong.
Defensive Armor #2: Breastplate of Righteousness: We are also to put on the breastplate of righteousness. We are to be covered with moral conduct that comes from a desire for obedience to the Father. Now by saying this have I returned to “good works of my own volition”? No, as I already explained, we are cloaked with the righteousness of Christ and not of our own; yet, good works and moral behavior are the byproduct of a heart that is fully seeking after Jesus Christ. If your heart is not bent toward righteousness; then ask yourself whether you have ever truly accepted Christ as your Savior. The breastplate is to cover the heart of the believer to keep it ever tender to the calls of Christ. The truth of the Scripture (the Belt of Truth) helps to hold our breastplate in place. In Hebrews 4 we see:” 12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” We know from I Samuel 7 that God said “for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” So the question that comes here is, “Is your heart bent toward obeying God?” Do you see Christ in all His glory through the eyes of your Heart so that you are drawn to obey and follow Him? Ephesians 1: 18”The eyes of your understanding (Heart) being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places” The breastplate is to protect this precious knowledge which draws us to seek to follow after righteousness, desiring it from the central core of your heart.
Defensive Armor #3: Footgear We are also told to have our “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” As a soldier we are given here part of the marching orders. Peacefully, we are to spread the gospel. As you may note this did not say mouth, though we are to proclaim the gospel. More importantly we are to live out the gospel through our daily walk and actions. We are to live in such a way as to cause people to be drawn to Christ. By our very actions people are to see the peace, joy, and hope within us. We are to spread the gospel through our kindness and demonstrations of love to a world in need of a Savior. As Christians we are to stand firm in our convictions; but that does not mean we are out picketing and protesting. If we bring sinners to Christ then He will transform their life and behaviors. We are to be ready to go wherever He calls us to and whenever He calls. Unfortunately, too many believe that their testimony is only verbal; yet, their very lifestyle and responses at work and in the public fail to demonstrate Christ. For example, a Church Leader may stand up on Sunday with a beautiful testimony of Christ and then on Monday on the way to work is consumed with road rage and curses another driver. After arriving at work, he may take part in some dishonest business adventure or have an affair or mistreat his employees. In that case has he carried forth the spreading of the gospel?—definitely not. In fact if our walk does not demonstrate Christ we would be better off to keep our mouths shut because we only cause harm to Christ’s good news. Our feet should be covered with the gospel first and our mouth follow after we have shown the difference Christ has made in our behavior.
Defensive Armor #4: Shield of Faith “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked;” we march forth ready to stand firm. I daresay, I have and am continually learning that faith is a crucial part in our being able to win in this battle or at least to make progress. Paul indicated this by his two simple words “Above All”. Too often we find that we believe that Christ died to cover our sins and therefore, we have a faith that allows for salvation; but we fail to fully accept that this Sovereign God is going to complete that work of perfecting us so that we look like Christ. We accept that Christ will save us from hell one day; but we tend to doubt that He is in control of every second of our lives. Maybe He is there on Sunday morning while I am sitting in church, but is He there when someone crashes into my car on the way to work Monday morning? He is there when a wonderful bonus check comes in and we rejoice, but do you know that He is there when for no reason your boss fires you? Oddly enough we accept that He loved us enough that He gave His son to die in our place; yet, we can’t believe He loves us enough to forgive a lie we told yesterday. We like children run, hide and try to cover up our sin as though this omnipotent, omniscient God didn’t already know even before we were saved and He called us to be His anyway. We might believe in His grace of yesterday; but do we believe in His Grace for today and tomorrow? Do we really believe that He is omnipotent and that He has our best interest at heart? If so why do we ever worry about anything? This shield of faith is to divert all of Satans fiery darts. His darts are penetrating and cut deep into our minds if not for our shield of faith. Some of Satan’s favorite phrases are “Oh, surely, God didn’t say that; after all, God would never deny you that pleasure” “What makes you think God cares about such trivial things?” Another of his favorite phrases is; “How could God ever really love you after you made so many mistakes?” “Use you, look at you, HAHAHA, what could you do for Christ?” “Just wait, God is going to destroy you for what you just did?” “Repent, hogwash, you have plenty of time, just wait until another day when you get older.” These darts can wear on us and once we believe them we become open to sin moving in and taking over for a moment or a season. The only strong defense against these darts of doubt is true faith. I don’t want to make too lightly of this because faith in God for yesterday, today and tomorrow (future grace is equally present as yesterday’s grace) is the central point of our being able to get it right. Our failures in our Christian walk can always be traced back to a failure in faith. Hebrews 11: 1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. … 6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Paul described faith once in Athens by saying as recorded in Acts 17: 24”God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. 30And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” In this Paul reminds us that to believe means that we see Him as Creator, Sovereign and Savior and that we see everything around us in view of that. As Creator, He owns me. I don’t own Him—He created me and my place is to serve Him—not that He serves me. I am not the center focus of my life; everything that I am or have is for His purpose and comes from Him, through Him. As Sovereign He is in complete total control of everything that happens in this world and my life. As Savior He gave His son to die to pay the price of my salvation, and if He did that, He only has good intentions for me. So if He is Creator, Sovereign, and Savior then everything that comes into your life is for your good whether you see that or not. That kind of faith will shred every satanic dart before it even gets close because it perfectly covers you completely.
Defensive Armor #5: Helmet of Salvation: Protect your mind from doubts about your salvation. If you ever accepted Christ as your Savior then no one can pluck you out of His hands. Romans 8:”31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We keep our mind firm on this assurance of our Salvation. That assurance is based on God Himself; therefore, it is done.
Let us each morning begin by placing firmly our armor and declaring our battle cry, "I am the Redeemed, Blessed, Beloved Child of God; so Satan, you had better flee because my Daddy doesn’t like it if you try to hurt me."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI4CvsPDcxg (Preview) Making War in the Heavenlies by Ron Kenoly